The present invention relates to charge-pump circuits, and in particular, to circuits and methods of adaptive charge-pump regulation.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A charge-pump is used in a wide variety of applications. A charge-pump receives a reference voltage input and provides an output voltage to a load circuit of that is a multiple (integer or non-integer) of the reference voltage. A charge-pump may be used as a source for a voltage regulator loop. The voltage regulator loop can operate to provide a consistent desired output voltage over changes in process, voltage, and temperature (“PVT”).
Charge-pumps may use switching circuits to create the output voltage. The switching circuits may cause switching noise on the output of the charge pump. If the charge pump is used as a source for a voltage regulator loop, the switching noise may result in noise on the output of the voltage regulator. The noise on the output of the voltage regulator may cause faulty operation for system circuitry which depend on the quality of the output voltage of voltage regulator.
Some systems include filtering of the output voltage in order to provide a more consistent regulated voltage. However, the filters themselves may include active devices which depend on an acceptable level of consistency from the charge-pump.
Thus, there is a need for improved charge-pump circuitry. The present invention solves these and other problems by providing circuits and methods for adaptive charge-pump regulation.